To All Nortel Haters: Your hatred is misguided

I have noticed that there is a lot of undeserved hatred being leveled towards Nortel and by extension, its employees. One need only read the latest stories on CBC News about Nortel and the comments to get an idea of how the public at large feel about the company.

Many of the comments are very bitter and hateful. Some of them say things like “good riddance” in response to the coming layoffs and still others think that the loss in severance and pensions of many innocent employees is something that “they deserve”. Other suggest that employees have been “feeding at the trough” for too long and “had it coming”

These claims are patently untrue. Is working your entire career, helping to build one of the biggest companies in the world, only to watch it destroyed by despots and criminals and watch your life and those of your coworkers suffer considered “fitting”? I personally have seen entire teams work overtime into weekends, sacrificing time away from family and friends, only to be laid off and have their severance removed. This experience should not be wished upon anyone.

Nortel employees have been through enough hardship from due to bad leadership. Please do not subject to them to any more unwarranted hate. To hate and feel contempt for them is akin to hating the civilians of another country that yours may be at war with. It’s wrong and unjustified as they are honest hard working people like everyone else.

To those who have lost lots of $$$ on stock: Your anger is understandable, but Nortel employees were not responsible. The former leader’s criminal behaviors (Dunn) show who was truly responsible, unfortunately our justice system seems to protect the biggest criminals at the expense of the little guy. Unfortunately Nortel’s reputation has suffered and continues to suffer under the tyrannical leadership of the few so called privileged and elite.

Has employee morale been reduced? Yes, of course! But does this mean that they have turned into bad people? Most definitely not! Instead, their resolve and respect for one another has increased. The rank and file are the ones who have suffered the most under the many iterations of bad leadership that have plagued and continue to plague Nortel. They do not deserve the enmity that should be reserved for the people who got us all into this position we are in. We remain committed and loyal to one another.

When thinking of Nortel, one must be be careful to distinguish Nortel the company from Nortel’s leadership, which over the years has shown utter contempt for shareholders, employees and the public at large with their lavish bonuses and profiteering from the demise of this great company. Like hyenas and vultures they shamelessly seek to benefit from a disaster and in doing so, bring undue hardship on many. These are the ones who have destroyed Nortel and caused hatred of it among the public at large!

The executive has used this “hatred” of Nortel in an attempt to deceive employees that there is a “media bias” against Nortel and that is why Nortel is in the position it is in today. By doing this, they attempt to shift the blame for their misdeeds away from themselves! In reality, a “bias” exists against the executive but this “bias” is actually justified criticism of their ostentatious behavior in the face of the company’s financial crisis, which they have had a very real part in creating.

So in conclusion, please remember that employees have been victims just as much as the public and shareholders. Many have also lost much of their own money due to NT stock fraud.

I found out he was a banker.
“Hey asshole. You and me work for companies no one likes. Trying to attack me about who I work for is like two hookers fighting over who was the better virgin. It’s irrelevant.”

This time it worked as his friends all laughed at him and it shut him up, but I still had the pint glass in one hand and my other fist clenched just in case.

You have to consider the fact that Nortel has wasted billions of dollars in last 10 years and have not been able to make a profit. In the mean time, a lot of money from investors and bond holders were pour into it. Just less than 1 or 2 years ago, they sold bond with 10+% interests for more than $1B and now it only worth $12 for $100 face value. Impact of this company on the Canadian society is not favorable. Employees are not the cause of these problems. But they are part of the company. To the outsider, the employees are part of the entity.

There has certainly been a lot of discussion around the Nortel bankruptcy. With all the discussion, has there been a serious effort buy employees, ex-employees or investors to influence the people who will control the plans for the future? I would think there would be some serious embarassment in the upper ranks with all that is being revealed and speculated about on the net.